WRC – ADAC Rally Deutschland Day 2 : Loeb on Course for 8th Succesive Rally Deutschland Victory
Sebastien Loeb extended his lead to 2nd place Dani Sordo after completing the 2nd day of the ADAC Rally Deutschland. Loeb now leads Sordo by 35.7 seconds.
2010 WRC Champion? With the backing of Citroen as the number 1 driver, only Ford can stop him from becoming a world champion again.
Earlier in the day, both the Citroen drivers were setting very close times, and at one point Sordo managed to cut the time to Loeb by 7.3 seconds. But on SS11, Sordo was told to back off by the Citroen team in order to secure a 1-2 finish. Although frustrated, Sordo obliged and this paved the way for Loeb to finish the day on top. Barring any major issues, Loeb’s quest to complete his eighth consecutive Rally Deutschland victory looks pretty much secured.
The end of the challenge for victory for Sordo as Citroen told him to hold station for a 1-2 finish.
Citroen could make it a 1-2-3 finish after Sebastien Ogier (above) leapfrogged Jari-Matti Latvala for 3rd place in SS10. Latvala made a mistake when spun off the road at the 1st 48km Panzerplatte, the longest course in any WRC special stages. He was lucky not to hit anything, but lost a lot of time recovering from the spin and eventually lost out to Ogier in the battle for 3rd place. Latvala now has a 16.6 seconds deficit to claw back on the final day to Ogier if he wants to make it onto the podium.
Meanwhile, Latvala’s teammate Mikko Hirvonen suffered a transmission failure in SS13, forcing him to retire from the rally. With only 4 rounds remaining, although mathematically still in contention depending on tomorrow’s result, the world championship looks all but over for the Finn.
Ciroen WRC service.
Francois Duval’s return to WRC after a two years away ended in a dramatic fashion when he rolled his car before coming to a halt upside down on its roof in SS14, the 2nd Panzerplatte. Petter Solberg went fastest in that special stage to finish the day in 5th place.
Another tough rally for Kimi Raikkonen, but he benefited from other’s retirement to finish the day in 6th place.
Photo : Citroen WRC, worldrallypics.com
